The Prime Directive in TNG...

[Marten]

Actually Picard tells Durken they thought the Malcorians would react negatively to first contact. They know that because....they studied them.

I actually forgot about that part.

Which would bring you around to the question of why the Federation hadn't pulled up camp and left the Malcorains alone long before the incident with Riker. The longer you have people on the ground the more likely a mistake, like what happened, becomes.

A controlled first contact is, like Picard says, far better than a random encounter in space.

 

[Anwar]

Precisely, the Malcorians were getting to the point where it was inevitable. Whether this consisted of them unveiling themselves to the Malcorian Public, or just having a greeting party waiting for them at wherever that Warp ship of theirs was heading to, we don't know.

 

[BillJ]

I'm not sure that the Prime Directive is moraly correct. Who is to judge what criteria justifies intervention?

The idea is supposed to be that the natives of the planet in question are the ones with the right to decide their own fate -- that the Federation declines to impose its own will on the interaction. The problem with TNG's extremist take on the PD is that refusing even to allow the natives to know you exist can constitute denying them choice, making the decision for them, just as much as conquering them would. Especially the bit about "let them die rather than risk damaging their culture by letting them know we exist."

I think Christopher Bennett sums up the issues with the 24th century version above in a post about the Prime Directive from the TrekLit forum.

 

[RAMA]

I'm not sure that the Prime Directive is moraly correct. Who is to judge what criteria justifies intervention?

The idea is supposed to be that the natives of the planet in question are the ones with the right to decide their own fate -- that the Federation declines to impose its own will on the interaction. The problem with TNG's extremist take on the PD is that refusing even to allow the natives to know you exist can constitute denying them choice, making the decision for them, just as much as conquering them would. Especially the bit about "let them die rather than risk damaging their culture by letting them know we exist."

I think Christopher Bennett sums up the issues with the 24th century version above in a post about the Prime Directive from the TrekLit forum.

Constitute denying them choice?? Like many species would have any real sense of the consequences. There are probably a myriad of life supporting planets in this galaxy alone, what likelihood is it that the we could save every dying planet. Is that really anyone's job? Like it or not, lions prey on herd animals, and planets will die in the solar galaxy. I don't think the universe has any care whatsoever, it just happens.

In terms of intelligent species, I think there are different levels of a PD we may accept...the "Contact" movie/book model seems reasonable for one example, but to make sudden contact...then tell them we are swooping a small percentage of their planet and save them...what kind of effect would THAT have on a species that didn't even know life existed elsewhere?

Edit: Also, I've been re-reading "Uplift War" by Brin, and it occurs to me, what definition of first contact is best? Industrial age? Light speed barrier, as with the UFP...in the Uplift universe, those discovered to have "potential" in early sentience have a 10,000 year indenture...is that an acceptable definition? Unfortunately, even in a universe with a LOT of rules, many species--advanced though they are--do NOT follow them, and many of these indentured species are abused in one way or the other.